A/N: I celebrated a friend of mine's 21st birthday. Had a strawberry daiquiri. Fun fun. I have never been drunk before. Never. So as a result I can't even tell you if I have a "buzz." But I'm writing this after having had that daiquiri, so I'm hoping it has no effect on my writing…I highly doubt it will…At any rate, FYI I am in LOVE with Rin's character as I am writing this. I'm hoping this chapter will shock you and inspire you all in one.
Disclaimer: Kasai, Kohimu, and Tisoki are mine! Inuyasha is not.
Last Chapter: Rin left with Shimofuri after hearing what Sesshomaru's been up to behind her back. Sesshomaru headed back to Jouka sooner than expected and found Jijo, and after abusing her a little in his anger, he learned that she'd left with Shimofuri. He's gone after her. Rin and Shimofuri arrived at a border town Sakaime where they met with Tsukiyume and Sasugainu. Sasugainu refused to be involved with it, he's too afraid of Sesshomaru. Rin, Shimofuri, and Tsukiyume decided that Rin should hide for a time with Inuyasha because of all of Sesshomaru's enemies, IY is the one that took Sess's arm and because they believe Sessh is secretly unable to kill his half-brother. Rin has taken Tsukiyume as her hostage of sorts, and plans to leave ASAP for IY's estate.
A Monk, A Sword, and the Bandits
They walked, leading the packhorse behind them. It was the same old mare, Roba, that had made the journey with Rin from Jouka. Now that mare carried her things east and south, towards the ocean. As they passed over the tallest hills, Rin thought, if she squinted hard enough, see the blue flat of the ocean…but the distance played tricks on her, and the land closest to the ocean was flat anyway.
Her life had been spent traversing mountains with Jaken and Sesshomaru, or living in his palaces, castles, and battlements, staring out at them. She entered flatter, prosperous lands, skirting around the Middle Lands entirely and heading into the disputed coastal shores. Humans ruled over these parts, and random rebellious demons. It had bred the demon slayers, like Sango, and it had created the beast Naraku.
In five-hundred years this area would be Tokyo, home of Kagome Higurashi and her family's shrine.
Tsukiyume traveled ahead, partly because she was serving as Rin's protector, but also because traveling close would spook Roba. The road was well-traveled; the villages were clumped together and easy-going. The journey would almost have been pleasant, except for the fact that it became hotter and hotter the further they walked. The sun was beating down on them relentlessly. Tsukiyume shed her outer robes and had Rin tuck them onto Roba for her, but Rin herself refused to shed her rich robes. She walked stubborn and proud down the road, a sweaty little gem. It was impossible for anyone, human or youkai, to lay eyes on her and not see that she was royalty somehow.
It was, disturbingly, as if Rin were asking for trouble.
And trouble came, eventually.
As the path descended and narrowed, approaching a village, Tsukiyume scented a band of men hidden in the dense forest along either side of the path. The wind was faint, barely present, which meant that she had no advance warning or their presence. When she scented them she stopped, frozen, listening and searching with her eyes.
Rin was coming down the path behind her, slowly but surely. Her sandals, made of a rich, high-quality wood, and lacquered in gold, impeded her progress because she struggled not to slip out f them. Truly they were for decoration, not for wear and tear. Tsukiyume, in contrast, had chosen padded slippers, loose and flexible. "What's wrong, Tsukiyume?" she called, looking up and seeing that her "hostage" had stopped moving.
Tsukiyume's ears flattened, she took a step backward. "Lady Rin—bandits…"
Rin came to a halt at once, her brown eyes wide. Roba walked past her for a moment, not expecting her master to stop so abruptly. The mare nickered nervously, sensing the mood.
Nothing could frighten Rin, or at least that had been what Tsukiyume was starting to believe. She'd feared for months over whether or not Rin could even survive the added loss of her trust in Sesshomaru when she found out about Ginrei, but since those fears, Tsukiyume had revised her entire image of Rin. Now she was uncertain of her friend, almost uncomfortable around her as she had been with Ginrei. Rin was like a machine, a thing operating without emotion. She revealed little bitterness, and no grief, as Tsukiyume would've expected her to. So far Tsukiyume hadn't had the courage to try and bring an emotional reaction out of her friend but she was starting to wonder if it was even there…
Yet, when she turned to stare back up the path at Rin, she saw, for the first time, fear. "Lady Rin?" she queried, uncertainly. "Are you all right?"
Rin made a small sound in her throat and swallowed hurriedly. Her eyes were unseeing as she turned, fumbling over Roba's bags until she found the sheath of a sword. When she drew it the sound rang loud and metallic, spooking Roba. The horse whinnied loudly and pulled free of Rin's grasp on the halter. She charged forward, looking as though she would run Tsukiyume over.
The hanyou girl screeched and bolted, leaping out of the way. The horse barreled past her and down the path a few short feet—and out from the sidelines, men appeared, big, brutish, and dirty. They shouted with what sounded like war cries. Three ran for Roba, blocking her way and snatching up the reins. The rest of them, about half a dozen, raced for Tsukiyume and Rin. Their eyes were alight, their mouths open and grinning cruelly.
Two of them came within ten feet of Tsukiyume and skidded to a halt, seeing, for the first time, that the white things on her head were moving and they were her ears…
"Demon!" they began to shout, "Demon!"
This cry didn't distract the other three men who converged on Rin. Their mouths were wide and leering, like animals Rin thought. She clutched her sword with both hands tightly and tried to block out an age-old fear that she'd barely known she possessed. These are the type of men that killed my family…
They surrounded her in a circle, cautious only because of her blade. They taunted her loudly, sneering and grinning. There was a hungry, malicious gleam inside their eyes.
"Good afternoon, pretty thing…"
"What's a fine little woman like you doing out here, all alone?"
"Isn't this just our lucky day, boys?"
Down the path, Tsukiyume was making false lunges at her would-be attackers. They appeared, from far away, to be involved in a dance. Tsukiyume feinted forward, the men backpedaled from her a step, then the men would advance, and Tsukiyume would retreat a step.
Tsukiyume brandished her claws for them to see, and curled her lips, hoping they saw the sparkle of her fangs in the sunlight. "I can rip you to pieces." She warned, ears lying flat.
"What are you waiting for?" the nearest of her assailants taunted, edging closer.
Tsukiyume took a deep breath and roared, charging headlong at him, claws at the ready. He was not fast enough to get away from her. Tsukiyume's claws tore him from shoulder to thigh and he fell away, screaming high and shrilly, dying. The other man gulped with fear and retreated further. A new, fresh fear started in his eyes, but it was intermixed with fresh, fierce hatred.
"Demon!" he shouted at her, baring his own blunt teeth.
As Rin lifted her sword up on the path, the men did not back away. Rin was clearly human, and the men would not be cowed by a mortal woman who happened to carry a sword.
"Where did a fussy thing like you get a sword, bitch?" one of them snickered, unimpressed.
Another man laughed raucously, stepping closer. "I always hated little rich girls with their fancy clothes and snob-faces. You ain't no better than any of the whores I've had in the brothel." He spat at her, but Rin flicked the blade, blocking the liquid projectile.
While she was distracted with this affront to her honor, the man that had taunted her about the sword raced in, reaching for it, trying to restrain her. Rin anticipated his attack, ducking and whirling away from his grip. As the momentum of his charge forced him to stumble ahead of her and nearly trip, Rin slashed his backsides with her blade. The man howled with pain and fell flat, convulsing.
The other two men backed away from her, realizing abruptly that her blade was not ordinary steel.
"A demon blade!" one of them choked. He looked down the path with wide eyes, hearing his companions fighting Tsukiyume and screaming a similar warning. "They're both demons!"
"Shut up!" the man who'd spat at Rin snapped quickly, "This one is just a spoiled little bitch, through and through." He moved forward, threateningly. "You think your little demon sword can save you?"
Before he could react, Rin rushed forward, plunging the blade into his stomach, viciously. The man screamed, pulling away frantically. Rin let him go, her face set in a tight, grim mask. The man fell flat, convulsing just as his companion had moments ago. Bloody foam escaped his mouth.
Rin leveled it at the last man facing her. "It's your turn now."
The man turned his back and tried to flee, but Rin lunged after him, cutting into him just barely with the blade. He fell at once, screaming and weeping. Rin walked past his shaking body, flicking the sword free of blood. She could feel the tenseness of her face, the stern, cold mask she'd adopted, but inwardly she was angry, she was raging…
The man trying to attack Tsukiyume was distracted by Rin's attack, her use of the demon blade. He backed away from Tsukiyume as Rin approached, and then he turned tail and fled. The rest of the bandits, trying to snatch the packs from Roba's backsides, looked up at his terrified cries.
Rin reached Tsukiyume and frowned at her angrily. "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you kill him? Stop them!"
Tsukiyume cringed at Rin's shouting, and when Rin moved the sword, she stepped back, full fear breaking out over her face. She looked like a beaten dog, expecting, at any moment, the next blow to land on her head.
"What's the matter with you?" Rin repeated, still angry.
But at that moment their involvement ceased to matter. Other humans were running toward them from the village. It appeared to be one grown man and three adolescent boys—but one of them, Tsukiyume noted, bore the aura of a youkai. And as they watched the small, strange group of people approach, one of the boys vanished—and then reappeared in the midst of the four remaining bandits.
The horse spooked at once, tearing free of the bandits' hands, dragging one of them with her in her panic. She raced down the path, only to be stopped by the approaching humans.
"What's going on?" Rin demanded, almost in a snarl. She stepped away from Tsukiyume fearlessly, holding the blade out to one side with only one hand. Tsukiyume stared after her, gawking. It appeared that Rin would take them all on, their strange rescuers, and the bandits. She was out for blood.
Roba had come to a stop down the path, held securely by one of the humans—a grown man dressed in dark robes and carrying a staff that gleamed golden in the sunlight.
Two boys slipped past the horse and the man racing forward as if to join the skirmish themselves. One of the boys fell on his knee and lifted a bow and arrow, taking aim. The other boy had a sickle-shaped weapon with a chain. He stepped to one side, avoiding the archery boy's sights, and lifted the weapon above his head, whirling it.
The real action was happening inside the circle of bandits, where the strange youkai boy had somehow transported himself. There were three bandits still, caught by surprise. The youkai boy kicked the feet out from under one and then, as the other two lunged for him, he disappeared from beneath their grasping hands, letting them fall onto their faces. He reappeared next to the fourth bandit, the mane that Roba had dragged behind her a short ways. This man was only barely recovering from his fall and the subsequent dragging. The youkai child reappeared in a crouched stance and rolled into his legs, knocking the bandit over.
The boy with the bow at last loosed his arrow. It flew out and shot through the calf of one of the recovering bandits. He fell, bleeding and clutching his leg. The others were shouting, starting to run.
The boy with the sickle let go of it, sending the weapon out to skid in the dirt in front of the able-bodied, retreating men. It missed them, but made them stumble backwards, cutting off their retreat. The boy with the arrows had notched another and shot one of them through the thigh.
The man who had stopped Roba had mounted her and was racing forward on the path now, spurring Roba on fiercely. The archer and the boy with the sickle moved aside at once for the horse, shouting at him with what was probably encouragement. Roba raced toward the youkai boy and the bandit she had, moments ago, dragged over the ground. Now the youkai boy curled into himself, as if about to be trampled, but he vanished instead, leaving only a tiny puff of dust or smoke.
The man on Roba's back rode by the bandit that the youkai child had left struggling to get to his feet and whacked him in the back with his long, golden staff. The bandit finally fell and lied still. Roba's rider spurred her at the last able-bodied bandit.
Anticipating his fate, the man began to run back up the path—and straight to Rin. His eyes bugged out as he realized how close she had come to him during all of the other commotion. Frantically, he tried to duck, to fall, to disappear into thin air like the youkai child had—but he had no such luck.
Rin slashed with her blade, barely catching the man in the arm. He stumbled backward, crying out, and then, as with all the others that had fallen to her blade, his eyes rolled back into his head, his mouth fell open. He collapsed into the dirt, convulsing violently, choking on his own saliva.
The man on Roba brought the horse up short. The world fell silent around them, except for the sounds of the moaning bandits and the dying gurgles of the last man that had been unfortunate enough to meet up with Rin's blade. Roba was breathing hard, her eyes were wild and rolling, her nostrils flared, but the man on her back pulled tightly on her reins, controlling her and keeping his distance from Rin.
He was human, Rin saw, through and through. A young man still, but older than her by at least a decade. His hair was black and straight, his eyes a startling violet. His clothes were the robes of a monk and the staff he'd used as a weapon jangled where he grasped it in his fist. When he spoke, she identified his voice as smooth, clever, and educated. "My lady—I believe this horse belongs to you."
Rin lowered her sword to her side, but she didn't sheath it or drop the blade, and ominously, blood still dripped from the tip. "Who are you?" she demanded.
The man slid off Roba's back, patting the horse's rump as he did so. "My name is Miroku." He turned his back on her, looking over his shoulder to the boys behind him who had taken up defensive positions, guarding the still conscious, living bandits. "Tisoki! Bring me as many of those bags as you can."
A little voice piped up, groaningly. "Why, Dad?"
"Because they belong to this lovely lady." He replied and turned back sheepishly to Rin, blushing embarrassedly. "My apologies, lady, I do not know your name or…" his gaze drifted to her sword and his face briefly creased with suspicion or wariness. "…what brings you to these parts?"
Rin wrapped the fingers of her free hand around Roba's reins, pulling the horse away from the monk. The mare whickered uncertainly, lifting her head fussily away from Rin because she could smell the stink of blood around her master, on the sword. "I'm traveling." Rin answered, vaguely.
"That's an interesting sword." The man began smoothly, cautiously. "May I inquire as to its origins?"
"You may not." She answered, coldly.
He blinked, taken aback, but didn't fight her on it. "Well then…" but at that moment a huffing, red-cheeked boy appeared behind him, hauling some of the bags and chests that the bandits had pulled from Roba's back. "Ah, thank you Tisoki." As the boy set the things down, breathing hard, Miroku ruffled his hair affectionately, making the boy bristle and step backward.
"Hey!" He grumbled, but his expression of annoyance faltered and disappeared as he took in Rin and, behind her some distance, Tsukiyume. His face flushed red and he bowed clumsily. "My lady."
Rin watched the boy for a moment, her eyes and face softening. The boy was handsome although very young; he couldn't have been older than eight or nine years old. He had brownish straight hair and bright, intelligent brown eyes. His outfit was tight, designed for physical exertion. The weapon he'd used, a sickle, was tucked into his belt. It was too big for him, sticking out at an awkward angle.
"Lady Rin!" Tsukiyume called, her voice hushed, almost breathless. "This is…"
But Miroku had already started to put two and two together. He had never seen Rin as an adult, and never would've guessed that he would cross paths with Sesshomaru's grown child-ward from long, long years ago. But Tsukiyume he recognized and remembered, even as he squinted through the sunlight and realized that the hanyou girl had grown as well. Taller and stronger.
"Lady Tsuki…" he frowned, struggling to remember her name correctly. "Lady Tsukiyume." He thumped his staff with his fingers, thinking hard. He knew of Rin's name, but couldn't connect exactly how…
Rin at last glanced back at Tsukiyume, "You two know each other?"
Tsukiyume nodded and began to walk forward, cautiously however—she didn't want to spook Roba again. "I know this monk. He is friends with Inuyasha."
Rin laughed once, short and sourly. "Coincidence."
"Forgive me," Miroku interjected, bowing slightly, "I know Lady Tsukiyume, but I am afraid I do not know you, my lady. And I must ask, what brings you to these parts?"
Rin ignored him and walked around Roba's backsides, searching for the sheath to her sword. When she couldn't find it she noticed the long, slender shape among the things that the boy, Tisoki, had brought for her. Carefully she approached the boy and knelt, trying to smile as she took the sheath.
Miroku was watching her, tensely. "Tisoki, come stand next to me."
The boy hopped up and joined him without question, but he had eyes only for gawking at Rin and her every movement, as if she were some sort of angel or a huge fireworks display on a holiday. When his son was safe, and after Rin had sheathed her sword, Miroku cleared his throat and asked, stiffly, "You carry a demon blade, my lady."
Rin ignored him, tying the sheath and its sword onto her belt as best as she could. The monk was right, it was a demon blade, one of the newest that Sesshomaru had made for her. It was Hikitsuru, a demon blade designed to act as poison, to kill its victims, especially humans, with only a slice. She was not about to tell the monk about it. The blade served its purpose and nothing more. It took life, it drew blood, it protected its owner.
Tsukiyume had come as close to Roba as she dared, and fallen into a bow. "Houshi-sama, I ask on behalf of myself and Lady Rin that you take us to Lord Inuyasha's residence."
Miroku's face blanched. "Oh no, what has he done now?"
"We are coming to ask Lord Inuyasha for asylum."
Miroku blinked. "Asylum?" he repeated, like a parrot, oblivious.
"We're wasting time." Rin muttered, staring at the dirt. One hand rested on her sword's hilt, the other over her still mostly flat belly. She let her eyes drift closed, her shoulders sagged. "We should go, Tsukiyume."
"Wait!" Tisoki cried, rushing forward toward Rin, escaping his father's frantic, grabbing hands and whispered protests. He wrapped his arms around Rin's legs and stared up at her with his large, seemingly innocent brown eyes. Except for the sickle in his belt, Rin might've thought him mistaking her for is mother. But what he said as he stared up at her was, "Will you marry me, pretty lady?"
Miroku smacked himself in the face. "Please, my lady, ignore him…"
There was a shout from the other two boys, the youkai and the other human, who were still standing watch over the moaning bandits. "Tisoki!" one of them was saying, "She won't marry you!"
The other added, "You're too ugly!"
In spite of Rin's growing desire for haste, she and Tsukiyume joined with Miroku and the children, walking into the village. The monk explained that they had hired themselves out for a few months to act as a police force against bandits who frequented the passes coming out of the Middle Lands and toward the coast. The increase was because of refugees, easy pickings, cast out of the Middle Lands by war and feminine and death. The bandits picked off the survivors as they passed through, robbing, raping, and murdering. They'd tried, unsuccessfully, to add Rin and Tsukiyume to their long list of victims.
"Why would you bring your children out here?" Rin demanded, almost with anger, when she realized that the two human boys were this monk's sons. She was appalled at the thought that this man risked his sons' lives in such a way.
Miroku answered her calmly, "They are apprenticing themselves to my wife as demon slayers. This is the right age for them to begin training." As he stared ahead at his sons, his violet eyes glazed over, full of memory. "My wife was a renowned slayer when she was only a teenager. The best in her village."
Rin thought she detected sadness in his voice, so she asked, "Has something happened to your wife?"
He blinked and threw her a blank look. Then he grinned, "Oh, you think I lost my wife, don't you?" he laughed, full-throated. "I'm sorry, Lady Rin, the only thing wrong with my wife is that she hates being pregnant."
Frowning, Rin looked away, focusing instead on the boys, the youkai child, and Tsukiyume walking up ahead. The human boys were talking together animatedly, whispering, while Tsukiyume and the youkai boy were conversing peaceably. Tsukiyume kept one ear pointed backward, listening for Rin's voice.
"I'm afraid the journey to Inuyasha's home will take at least another day's walk, my lady. Could I perhaps invite you to stay with my family through the night?" Miroku was asking.
Rin hardly heard him; she was too busy straining her ears, trying to hear what the boys were saying. They were talking about Tsukiyume, pointing at her ears, her hair. "I'm afraid I'm in a hurry." She told him, distractedly.
"Please, my lady? You have traveled a great distance already, and the attack…"
Rin at last turned her full attention on him, frowningly. "No, I'm afraid I must insist that Tsukiyume and I continue without stopping to Inuyasha's estate."
Miroku pursed his lips, withdrawing from her. His staff jangled musically with each step that he took. "What is so urgent that you and Lady Tsukiyume are seeking out Inuyasha?"
"It is none of your affair." Rin replied, coldly. Then she pulled on Roba's reins, pushing the mare to one far side of the path, and raised her voice to Tsukiyume at the head of the troupe. "Tsukiyume!"
The hanyou girl reacted at once, turning and hurrying away from the youkai boy she was talking to and plowing through the giggling boys and the gaping monk. "Lady Rin?"
"We're going on alone." To Miroku and the others she said, "Thank you for your help."
Miroku nodded, "Make no mention of it." when he faced his boys again he gave them a quick order, making them step aside and allow Tsukiyume and Rin to pass by with Roba.
They waited, resting together on one side of the path, watching the strange hanyou girl and Rin pass deeper into the coastal territory, closer to Inuyasha.
When there was no chance that the hanyou girl would overhear them, Shippo turned to Miroku solemnly. "I don't trust them. I think we should warn Inuyasha and Kagome."
Miroku nodded, tapping his staff as he thought. "Did you learn anything from Tsukiyume, Shippo?"
The kitsune nodded. In the years since Naraku's death, he'd grown out of his childish shell, into a more adult, mannish form. He would always be short, but now he was a valuable fighter, with the growing strength of a full-blooded youkai. His green eyes were bright with intelligence, his babyish face had leaned out and matured somewhat, he was beginning to appear handsome. "She said she's spent the years since we last saw her as Sesshomaru's hostage."
"Hmn." Miroku murmured, "That makes your stories from the Isei true, Shippo."
"You mean why that Shimo-guy turned the Isei province over to Sesshomaru?"
Kohimu and Tisoki were listening now, intently. When they heard Sesshomaru's name they grinned and Tisoki said, "The asshole uncle!"
Miroku scowled disapprovingly. "Who told you that? Sesshomaru is not your uncle."
"We know." Kohimu informed him, slinging his bow and arrows off his shoulders and sighing, relaxing as he realized that they were going to be sitting in one spot for a while. "He's Koinu's asshole uncle."
"So you learned this from Inuyasha." It wasn't a question anymore, but both boys nodded. Miroku grunted, unimpressed. "I'm going to have to have a talk with him."
Shippo shrugged, smirking. "C'mon, Miroku, what can you expect from him?"
Miroku gave a short, dry laugh. "Maturity—he's got to get it sometime."
"Guess again." Shippo grinned.
Miroku narrowed his violet eyes and lifted one hand, shielding them from the sun. He was staring after the backsides of the horse, Rin, and Tsukiyume. "Who do you think Lady Rin was, Shippo? How does she play into all of this?"
"I dunno." The kit answered, cocking his head to one side and following Miroku's gaze, as if the distant, retreating forms could expose some answer to their question. "But she shouldn't be traveling."
"Why not?"
"She's pregnant." Shippo answered, wrinkling his nose. "And its father wasn't human."
Miroku remembered the blade, the convulsing, gagging bandits, and Rin's strange distance, her coldness, her cruelty… "That doesn't surprise me."
"Yeah—but the scent was inuyoukai—like, like…" the kit's voice trailed off, his green eyes widened, his mouth began to fall open, gawking as his scent memory at last gave him the answer he was looking for: where have I smelled that inuyoukai before? It smells like Inuyasha but…not…
"Like what, Shippo?" Miroku asked, calmly.
"Like Sesshomaru." The kit breathed, still staring.
"Asshole uncle!" Kohimu and Tisoki chorused together, snickering.
Miroku rose to his feet, wearing a new, grim face. "Up boys—let's get going!"
Kohimu grumbled and reached down for his bow and arrows, slinging them again over his shoulder. "I was just getting comfortable, Dad!"
"Where are we going?" Tisoki asked, eagerly.
"We're going to pay Uncle Inuyasha a little visit…"
A/N: And the next chapter…
Rin lashed out, knocking the bowl away, sending the chopsticks flying. Rice, sauce, noodles, meat, strips of vegetables, everything splattered over the floor messily. Rin ducked over, folding herself in half. Her long hair cascaded forward, covering her face and dipping itself in the spilled, wide-flung food.
"Everything I am, he made me." Rin was gasping; her words were barely understandable over her hoarse, ragged breathing. "Tsuki…" she breathed coarsely, "My babies…he told me I was being poisoned. What if he did it…" her words dissolved into choked sobs and wailing, teary cries.